TGIF! Hope y’all had a good week. Tomorrow I had planned to run 10 miles in preparation for the Love Run half marathon coming up on March 25th. But after two not so amazing 4 mile runs this week thanks to my hamstring situation I decided to take a few days off and delay that 10 miler. I’m thinking of shooting for Tuesday. That’ll give me 3-4 days off to let things settle a bit. Of I couldn’t resist joining some of my hiking friends for some winter fun this morning in the snow.

Wait for meeeeee!

We had a quick storm that left a few inches and Duncan and I enjoyed the couple of hours out on the trails in the winter wonderland.

Hmm, red trail or blue?

There’s nothing better than fresh fallen snow in the woods

My little hiker

This is the gate that is at the entrance of the parking area at the trail head. It’s like sculpture.

Speaking of winter fun, last Sunday Mr SOTSS and I took his 2 girls and my niece skiing in Pennsylvania.

That’s my niece behind me after skiing down the “big mountain” for the first time! She did amazing. Yes, I was able to snap photos and video while skiing. I just held both poles in the other hand. I’m so talented.

This was only the 3rd time each of the girls has been on skis. Last year when we took them they had a lesson and this year we started on the bunny slope but after about an hour they all felt comfortable trying out the big mountain trails. I’m so excited that I was able to teach my niece AND Mr. SOTSS’ older daughter (she’s almost 14) how to turn.

Last run of the day. She was so excited that I taught her how to turn she wanted to practice. I’m so proud of her.

Once it clicked for them they got so much more confident and fell a whole lot less It was a great day filled with lots of laughs.

A daddy/daughter chill session

Taking a quick nap before the struggle to get back up.

My week was pretty typical. Duncan and I had our usual walks and trips to the pet store and as I said earlier, I got two 4 mile runs in. The first one on Tuesday was in the rain but it was about 50 degrees and felt really refreshing. The second one yesterday ended up being more of a trail run/walk.

happy trails

I ran past the golf course and since it was 63 yesterday there were golfers in action. Hard to believe that today it snowed.

golfers

So now I’m going to do all the rehabbing for the next few days and see how it goes next week when I pick back up with training.

What is your idea of Winter fun? Indoors or Outdoors?

Any fun weekend plans?

What are your favorite glute, hamstring and hip strengthening exercises?

Don’t forget to turn the clocks ahead this weekend if you’re in Daylight Savings.

Last week seems like a distant memory. Monday and Tuesday it poured rain. Tuesday evening Mr. SOTSS and I saw the movie The Founder, the story of how McDonalds came to be. It was very important that I saw it because my cousin wrote the movie! Isn’t that cool? He also wrote The Wrestler, Big Fan and Turbo. And then Wednesday I had jury duty….hard to believe I stressed so much about it. I lucked out and only had to serve for a whopping hour and a half! I was home in the afternoon and took Duncan out to the park to celebrate that the rain had passed and we could finally enjoy some sunshine.

Yay for sunshine and no more jury duty

I also went on another night hike which I’m really becoming addicted to.

Thursday I worked a ton but got out for my once-a-week run (still trying to rest the darn hamstrings!). A short run that felt hard thanks to the super high winds.

And then Friday began my super fun weekend getaway with Mr. SOTSS. He booked our 3rd annual ski weekend in Vermont as a Christmas gift for me. And this year was just as fun.

Two years ago was when I had that little snowmobile “incident”. Last year we stayed at the same B&B as this year and let’s face it, the best part of the trip might have just been the amazing homemade breakfast options they served. Spiced apple waffles that were the perfect texture….soft and doughy on the inside and crispy and flakey on the outside. There were also homemade cinnamon rolls and coffee cake.

Cinnamon roll!

Yes, I took a 2-day break from the whole healthy eating thing. But I’m back on the wagon today.

We drove up Friday morning with a stop at my friend’s house to drop off Duncan. He is very lucky to get that extra hour and a half with me before drop-off.

Wait? Am I going with you to Vermont?

Road trips are my favorite. I’m such a traditionalist. A little hand holding and some good tunes.

I’ve got races coming up in March, April and May so indulge me for the next few weeks with these recreational winter fun posts =)

Friday morning Mr SOTSS and I headed up to Vermont with a quick stop to drop off Duncan at my friend Nicole’s house.

doesn’t matter if it’s 1 hour or 6 hours. He just lays on my lap the entire time

napping in the car

Waiting for us to pack up the truck

This ski weekend was a gift from Mr SOTSS for Christmas. He gave the same gift last year only we chose a different bed and breakfast this year. I love traveling, especially road trips. There’s something so enjoyable about spending the long hours in the car listening to tunes and talking about so many things we never seem to get to talk about normally. Road trips aren’t complete without snacks because, let’s face it, I can get really cranky if I don’t have access to food. Usually I make poor choices for snacking when traveling but I had just been online reading about healthy snacks at nuts.com and then saw this cool “snack hack”:

I was so inspired that I packed up some healthy stuff like apples, almonds and cranberries, a granola bar and some pretzels.

Hi folks. Hope you had a great weekend. I spent it up in West Dover, Vermont.

As one of my Christmas presents Mr. SOTSS got us a lovely bed and breakfast ski weekend trip. He’s such a great travel companion and thoughtful gift giver too. This was our first road trip without our furry kids. While it was hard leaving them behind we really enjoyed ourselves.

almost 170 years in business!

A good sign that there are fireplaces inside…YAY!

We arrived in the late afternoon on Friday to the The West Dover Inn. The Inn was established in 1846 with just 3 guest rooms and has remained in business ever since. They have since expanded to 11 rooms. After checking in to our room we went for dinner at The Roadhouse, a local establishment just a few miles away. They served homemade bread that arrived at the table nice and warm. And they also served homemade apple crisp which we both had for dessert. Any place that specializes in homemade carbs….yeah I don’t even need to finish this sentence.

Apple Crisp!

It had been snowing most of the day and night and really set the mood for what a ski weekend in Vermont should feel like. After dinner we went to the bar at our Inn to listen to some live music and have a drink. And their bar recently got a makeover too. It was quite crowded and lively.